Hospital Appoints Beulah Charity Ashby to Board of Directors

Dare County Water Department Supervisor, Beulah Charity Ashby, has been appointed to a three-year term on the board of directors of The Outer Banks Hospital.

NAGS HEAD, N.C.—Dare County Water Department Supervisor, Beulah Charity Ashby, has been appointed to a three-year term on the board of directors of The Outer Banks Hospital. When she was approached about serving on the board, Ashby asked herself, “Will I be heard, what can I bring to this board to promote the well being of others? I’m not a corporate business owner. I am just an average person who works two jobs. But then I thought we’ve needed this hospital for a long time. And now it’s time for everyone to know that quality medicine is here and is available for everyone.”

“Beulah’s strong sense of commitment to the wellbeing of this community will translate well to her service on the hospital board,” said Bobby Owens, Chairman of the board of directors. “She knows our community, she recognizes our needs and she will be a compelling ambassador for those in need.”

Ashby, a Manteo native, has witnessed the Outer Banks move from a three-room segregated school for African Americans on Roanoke Island to a community with three high schools that are rated some of the best in the state. She remembers wooden bridges, home health remedies and the Ben Franklin in downtown Manteo. “We didn’t have much money,” said Ashby, who is one of nine children, “but I loved my life growing up in Manteo. Everybody looked out for everyone else.”

“In one generation, the Outer Banks has transitioned from a sleepy beach village to a tourist destination that hosts as many as 200,000 people on a peak summer day,” said hospital president, Van Smith. “Beulah Ashby has lived it. It is an honor to have someone with her passion about her life on the Outer Banks serve on our board.”

Ashby has held several leadership and civic positions, including the Manteo Lions Club, the Roanoke Community Center Board and past membership in the Golden Jewel Tent Lodge #269 along with various civic organizations. Ashby, who replaces Clarence Skinner, who rotated off the board this past spring, is married to Robert Ashby and has one son, four stepchildren and six grandchildren.

OBH parent corporations, University Health System of Eastern Carolina, based in Greenville and Chesapeake Regional Medical Center, appoint the 10 members of The Outer Banks Hospital board. UHS appoints six members and Chesapeake four. At least five board members must be Dare County residents.